Why They Chose Minnesota!
1.) Rich and affordable farm
land
When
most of our ancestors were arriving in Minnesota the state was located on the
edge of the western frontier.
Minnesota did not become a state until 1858. At the time there were six of our ancestral families already
living in the state. Within ten
years eleven more families would join them.
Land
was plentiful and cheap. One
report I found stated that you could purchase land from the government at $1.25
an acre. If you purchased it from
individuals or land companies it would cost $4.00 - $5.00 an acre.
The Homestead Act of 1862 made land
even more affordable. If you lived
and worked government land for five years, it was yours. Iım not sure how much of southern Minnesota
qualified under this Act but even the fact that free land was just west of here
probably kept land prices down during the 1860s.
One other angle should also be
mentioned. Christian Sutter could
purchase land at a greatly reduced price for serving in the military during the
Civil War. Using this arrangement
he purchased 80 acres in Blooming Grove Township. Gilbert Kinn was also rewarded for his service with a block
of land in Iosco Township. The
1870 census lists it as 140 acres.
2.)
Geographic and climatic similarity.
Several articles I researched
stated that for Norwegians, Swedes, and Germans the attraction to Minnesota lie
in the geographic and climatic similarities between the state and the
homeland. When we traveled through
central Sweden we saw this; it was no different than northern Minnesota. Weıre not sure we could say the same
for the geography or Norway or Germany; however, the climates are very similar.
3.) Availability of employment and the
higher wages offered to workers.
Iım not sure how this worked for
our ancestors. I found one article
that mentioned the timber industry, which offered work for farmers and others
in need of work during the winter months.
Another example was the iron ore industry in northern Minnesota. Yet there was not much timber or iron
ore in Waseca County. However, I
mentioned this as a possible reason why they left the east coast for the
Midwest thinking work was available year round.
The higher wages was another
possibility. A laborer in Norway, for example, could earn $40 to $50 a year,
while a person involved in such activities as crafts in an American city could
earn as much $4 to $5 a day when times were good. Since most of our ancestors
who migrated here settled on farms, this probably played a minor role.
4.) Letters home, promotional material,
etc.
Once
again, these reasons were listed in articles I researched. I donıt think the so-called American
Letters home were a big factor as our
ancestors were the first pioneers who were leading the way into Minnesota. However, there may have been some
distant relatives and family friends who described America in general to our
ancestors and thus planted the seed of the American fever in their minds.
We do know of a few early arrivals did return home and our
ancestor soon followed. A prime
example is Anders Nelson who was part of the group planning to settle
Stockholm, Wisconsin. He followed
the Petterson brothers who had returned to Sweden to recruit their neighbors
for a settlement in Stockholm, Wisconsin.
Anders himself did return to Sweden
in 1865 to visit friends. Did his
stories of Minnesota stimulate any new emigration? Thomas Barden was also rumored to have returned home to his
native Ireland but we are not aware of anyone who followed him back to Minnesota.
The
promotional material was often distributed to immigrants when they arrived in
America. Some times it was the
shipping companies, railroads, land agents, etc. The state of Minnesota even had an official state office
located in New York that would promote Minnesota to new arrivals. We can only
speculate if this was a factor.
5.) A sense of community.
The
sense of joining other immigrants from their homeland was certainly
appealing. Our family is very
typical of the largest immigrant groups in the 19th century. The following chart was taken from an
website on Minnesota history.
Foreign-Born in
Minnesota: 1890
|
Country |
Number |
Per Cent |
|
Germany |
117,000 |
25.0 |
|
Norway |
101,000 |
22.0 |
|
Sweden |
100,000 |
21.0 |
|
Ireland |
28,000 |
6.0 |
|
Other Foreign Nations |
121,000 |
26.0 |
|
Total Foreign Born |
467,000 |
36.0 |
To narrow this Waseca County we can
look to the 1860 census. The major immigrant groups were: Irish, Norwegians,
Germans, British, (English, Scots, Welsh), and Swedes. By 1880 the Norwegians moved into first
place followed by the Germans, Irish, Swedes, and finally the British. Our ancestors would feel comfortable
settling amongst these northern European groups.
Within
the county we find yet another breakup of immigrants into the various ethnic
groups. The Norwegians settled
along the eastern edge of the county .
Blooming grove Township is included in this area where somewhere between
25-50% people were Norwegians. The
Irish settled in the north, central. and western edges (Iosco, St. Marys,
Alton, Freedom and Byron Townships.
The Germans were fairly scattered throughout the northern two-thirds of
the county.
All
our ancestors settled amongst their own with one exception. As far as I can tell Anders Nelson was
out of place; a Swede amongst Norwegians.
However, he did take a Norwegian for his wife and seemed to have fit in
as he was a township supervisor and a founder of the North Waseca Lutheran
Church.
Below is a chart / map that shows the twelve townships in Waseca County. Using the census data we can determine where the major nationalities settled that contained our ancestors. The key townships are Blooming Grove / Iosco for family of Cheryl and St. Marys, Wilton and Alton for the family of Dan. The city of Waseca is located in Woodville Township.
|
Janesville German 10-25% Irish 10-25% Norwegian 0-2% |
Iosco Irish 25-50% Germans 25-50% Norwegian 10-25% |
Blooming Grove Norwegian 25-50% Germans 25-50% Irish 10-25% |
|
Alton Irish 25-50% Germans 10-25% Norwegian 0-2% |
St. Marys Irish 25-50% Germans 25-50% Norwegian 0-2% |
Woodville Germans 10-25% Irish 10-25% Norwegian 2-10% |
|
Freedom Irish 10-25% Germans 25-50% Norwegian 2-10% |
Wilton Germans 25-50% Irish 10-25% Norwegian 2-10% |
Otisco Norwegian 25-50% Swedes 25-50% Germans 10-25% Irish 2-10% |
|
Vivian Germans 50-75% Irish 10-25% Norwegian 10-25% |
Byron Irish 25-50% Germans 10-25% Norwegian 0-2% |
New Richland Norwegian 50-75% Swedes 10-25% Irish 2-10% Germans 2-10% |
|
|
|
|
(next article) |